Note: I haven't got a clue what Sake tastes like, so this is just a wild guess from the answers I got on Google.

. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .

I couldn't believe it. Like, holy fuck, I was drunk.

Really, I didn't mean to get drunk, it just sorta… happened.

I was given a small cup of Sake and, the first sip I had, tasted a lot like really sour grape juice. After a few more sips the bitterness begun to fade and all that was left was a really thick, sweet substance that trailed down my throat with ease. Following every sip my head grew lighter and the sips grew larger as well. I would always tell myself the moment my cup was empty I was done, but strangely it kept getting refilled.

And now I was sitting, completely vulnerable to any girl around me, on a couch with a gorgeous fire dancing to my left. My eyes flashed to all the blurred girls. Orihime, Rukia, Rangiku, Nanao, Nemu… Momo… a girl...

After one shot I was laughing. After two shots I was dancing. After five I could no longer place one foot in front of another and needed Shiro to be my walking stick. He was thrilled. Shiro had kept his arm around my waist the entire time. I noticed that he barely ever took up his cup. Was he the one who kept refilling my glass? Bastard. What was he planning?

"Feelin' okay Ichigo?"

His voice rang through my head like a triangle in a jungle… or something like that. "Tired…. I think… Maybe…"

"Need another drink?"

"Fuck yes." What was I doing? Asking for more Sake?I was already too drunk to see more than five feet in front of me. What the hell was I doing? And yet, he handed me the filled shot glass, and I gulped it down faster than all the others. It was my seventh… or maybe eighth… and now I could see two feet less in front of me.

"Yo, Ichigo, get your ass over here!" It was Renji… damn it, shut the fuck up.

"No."

"No? Whadya mean no?"

"I mean, I'm drunk off my ass and fucking tired. No."

I felt a heavy weight crash against my right side. Renji's terrible breath smothered my nose and I could barely breathe. "C'mon Ichigo, ya hafta watch me climb this tree! I'm a fucking-"

"He said no, now piss off," Shiro hissed, but in more of a friendly tone. His arm tightened around me, almost to the point where it hurt.

Renji opened his mouth to say something, I could tell because the air suddenly stunk again, but he was cut off with a large explosion. The red head jumped to his feet and ran towards the source of the loud noise while another one went off in his wake. If the pain that had suddenly welled up inside of my leg wasn't enough to paralyze me, then the Sake definitely was.

I looked down at my right leg, shocked when I only saw half of it there. I hollered out in pain. A sticky hot feeling ate at the area just under my knee while my foot and toes were irresponsive.

"Ichigo, can you hear me?"

There was chaos, all around. Someone had just dived into a pool of water due to their robes catching fire. A few more had drawn their swords and were pointing them out past my sight. Shinigami had appeared everywhere.

"Shi..." that was all I could muster to reply, pain was still threatening to take over my tongue.

"Are you all...? Shit."

In the background I could hear someone laughing. And a few different voices screamed, "Protect the Head Captains."

I swallowed, hard. "What is it?"

He didn't respond, but he didn't need to. I knew what Shiro wouldn't tell me. I knew half my leg was gone. I could feel it. The missing limbs were absent in my nerves and I felt very dizzy from heavy blood loss, or then again it could just be the alcohol.

"Go on Shirosaki Sou-taichou, take Kurosaki Sou-taichou and leave this to us."

The next thing I knew I was off the ground and resting on two very comforting arms. His neck made a perfect pillow and I was out in a few short seconds.

Shiro's POV

Damn it! Why did it always happen to Ichigo? Why couldn't it have this time been me? I was so sorry, so fucking sorry that I didn't see this coming, that I didn't sense the danger until it was too late.

I knew I would regret it, but after landing in a small grass clearing I took a look at Ichigo's wounds and flinched. His right leg had been blown off just under the knee; a few places had been burnt and others already bruising. Ichigo's right hand was gone too. It had only been affected because he was leaning over when his leg was hit. I mentally thanked Ichigo for having wild spiritual pressure than knocked the attack off course and I took slight comfort in the fact that I hadn't taught him how to suppress it yet.

I myself had only gotten a scratch, the blow was mainly aimed at Ichigo and I only got a small part of it due to my position beside him. This deepened my sorrow. I was sitting at such an angle that the attacker could've thought I was using Ichigo as a shield. Never! I could never do that! Ever!

"Ichigo, c'mon, wake up!" I would've screamed, but that would have given away our position. The darkness of the night and the trees surrounding us provided a perfect hideaway. I hated hiding, I'd rather be tearing out our attacker's throat right now, but Ichigo was wounded and I was the only one who knew where he was. I couldn't leave him, nor could I bring him back to the battle field in the condition he was in.

I couldn't take this anymore! I would not allow Ichigo to die!

I tore off Ichigo's pant leg then rolled up his sleeve. I ripped off a large piece of cloth from my own clothing and used them as bandages for the bloody wounds Ichigo desperately needed treatment for. I used my own mouth and tongue to clean the wounds. The night was very dark, but I needn't light to see Ichigo, I could sense where his was.

And speaking of the night... Tonight was supposed to be fun. It was hilarious to see Ichigo's confused face as he aloud kept saying yes to all the drinks I offered, and his face whenever he discovered that his shot glass had been refilled... It was amazing! Absolutely perfect, just like Ichigo himself, perfect. I would've brought him home, almost unconscious, and his mind would have flipped to one conclusion when he saw the bed. I would've then enjoyed watching him try and fail miserably to top me with his drunken mind. Ichigo would get absolutely nowhere, but of course I'd carry along. Then the next morning he'd wake up with a massive headache and I'd attempt to cure it with a back massage. To him it'd be a soothing morning, but to me it'd just be an excuse to touch his magnificently tanned skin.

But sadly, none of that would happen now. And after Ichigo recovers, we'd have to investigate what happened. Then we'd find our guilty party, be pushed into a war and after it's all over we would have miles of paper work to do. Not to mention his hand and leg were gone, wiped clean along with the reiatsu that used to be there. In other words, if Orihime had tried to heal him, the limbs would grow back but they'd be irresponsive and just as useless as if he didn't have them. He'd never be the same... or so I thought.

I felt anger pulsating through Ichigo's reiatsu, his Spiritual Pressure increasing by the second. Ichigo's hand angrily clawed into the dirt below. His eyes shot open with a furious glow and they stared off into nowhere with a murderous intent. I couldn't help the smirk that crawled its way onto my face. If Ichigo could see his face right now, it was a very good look for him. A very good one indeed! I then watched my make do bandages stretch into the form of a hand and the bottom half of his leg. He was healing himself, again!

Ichigo sat up immediately when the healing process was complete. He reached out with his right arm and touched his leg, looking mildly surprised at the white bandage. Ichigo's chest moved slowly, up and down, up and down, repeat. With the same speed he turned to me, looking around once more before doing so, obviously wondering where he was.

"Ichigo," I called softly, trying to catch his full attention. I was so fucking happy right now; it was easily showing in my voice.

However, no matter how happy I was, it couldn't have beaten the look on Ichigo's face. Never before had I seen him so happy, he was probably even happier than me, and that's saying something.

Before anything more could happen, I heard a crack in the bush behind me. In one swift motion I grabbed Ichigo, kicked off the ground and landed on a platform of my own reiatsu in the air.

Ichigo started acting like a lost puppy. His eyes shone up at me as he buried his face into my chest. Ichigo was obviously still a little dizzy and the noise below had been proven false by the lack of an attack or another presence lingering in the air.

So, with Ichigo tucked tightly in my arms, I took off for our barracks.

Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure was still tainted by anger and I could almost taste his desire to kill. But that would come soon, along with the war against our attacker. We would fight, together, side by side, all in due time.